Onboard the U.S. Navy Nimitz Class Aircraft Carrier, USS DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER (CVN 69), Aviation Ordnanceman AIRMAN Christopher Till performs abdominal exercises inside the fitness center on December 28, 2006. The Eisenhower and embarked Carrier Air Wing 7 are underway in the Arabian Sea on a regularly scheduled deployment in support of Maritime Security Operations and Operation Iraqi Freedom. (U.S. Navy PHOTO by Mass Communication SPECIALIST SEAMAN Adrian J. Escobar) (Released)

Aircraft carriers are warships that act as airbases for carrier-based aircraft. In the United States Navy, these consist of ships commissioned with hull classification symbols CV (aircraft carrier), CVA (attack aircraft carrier), CVB (large aircraft carrier), CVL (light aircraft carrier), CVN (aircraft carrier (nuclear propulsion) and CVAN (attack aircraft carrier (nuclear propulsion). The first aircraft carrier commissioned into the United States Navy was USS Langley (CV-1) on 20 March 1922.